UX Design for Children (Ages 3-12)

Children are selective about the technology they use. They choose to use specific websites or apps when the experience seems worthwhile and when it beats other options. Children have specific interests and online behavior and require design styles that match their needs.

This 399-page report offers 156 design guidelines based on our usability research. Discussions and 288 screenshot illustrations supplement our findings.

Topics covered

• Cognitive development level and experience makes usability for kids critical
• Kids and adults are different. Kids need a different design style
• Myths about children on the web and their lack of technical understanding
• How and why children use the internet
• Designing for parent involvement
• Helping kids find your websites
• Interaction design: making the most of touchscreens, pointing devices and keyboards
• Forms, passwords, and memberships
• Designing navigation for children
• Search for early readers
• Compelling homepages
• Legibility and text design for beginning readers
• Readability and comprehension
• Written instructions that young users understand
• Images to communicate and inspire
• Targeted content
• Characters
• Decreasing the perception of wait time
• Animation and video that engage young audiences
• Audio: Background, rollover, sound effects
• Advertisements
• Displaying system errors and help (alerts, dialogs, plug-ins)
• Gender and international considerations
• Detailed methodology section that shows how you can conduct your own usability studies with children, including:
  • Where to test
  • When to involve parents
  • Whether or not to test in pairs
  • How to help children feel comfortable during the research

Types of Apps and Sites Tested

• Augmented Reality (e.g., AR Hamster, Do Not Touch, Sky Whale, Stack AR)
• Education (e.g., ABCmouse, Code Kingdom (编程王国), Funbrain, National Geographic Kids)
• Entertainment (e.g., 123 Draw, Highlights Kids, Roblox, Science vs. Magic (科学大战魔法))
• Government (e.g., Nasa Kids Club, US Mint)
• Media (e.g., Nick Jr., PBS Kids, World of Peppa Pig)
• Museum (e.g., Beijing Museum of Natural History, Idea Museum)
• Toys (e.g., Lego, Barbie)

What’s new in the 4th Edition?

The fourth edition contains new and updated recommendations, increasing from 130 to 156 guidelines, including revisions and clarifications. For this edition, we included findings and recommendations for tablet and mobile applications designed for children.

We conducted the research for this edition with two lab-based usability studies in the United States and China.

Research Method

The information in this report is based on three separate rounds of studies, conducted nine years and eight years apart, with children between 3-12 years old. We used usability testing as the method of research:

• One-on-one usability testing
• Co-discovery usability testing, for which kids evaluate websites in pairs

Across all three studies, children tested more than 80 websites and 36 apps targeted at their age group, as well as the kids area on mainstream websites. The studies took place in the United States, China, and Israel in participants' homes, at schools, and in usability labs.